Field of the Invention
The present application relates to systems and methods for enhancing neurologic function. Several embodiments are directed to enhancing function in individuals having a loss of one or more neurologic functions, including but not limited to, motor function, cognitive function, including that resulting from injury, neurological disorders, normal age-related degeneration, etc.
Description of the Related Art
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease or movement disorder that affects up to one million people in the United States. Parkinson's disease affects neurologic function by degrading motor skills of the subject and by causing dementia. The pathology of Parkinson's disease includes reduced formation and action of dopamine, which is produced in the dopaminergic neurons of the brain. Previous research of the causes and possible treatments of Parkinson's disease have been directed towards efforts to compensate for the reduced formation and action of dopamine caused by the disease.
Dementia (e.g., as resulting from Parkinson's disease) is a collection of symptoms but it is not itself a disease. It is characterized as the loss of cognitive function having a severity so as to interfere with a person's daily activities. Cognitive function includes activities such as knowing, thinking, learning, memory, perception, and judging. Symptoms of dementia can also include changes in personality, mood, and behavior of the subject. Although, in some cases, dementia can be cured by curing the underlying disease (e.g. infection, nutritional deficiency, tumor), in most cases dementia is considered incurable.
High energy laser radiation is now well accepted as a surgical tool for cutting, cauterizing, and ablating biological tissue. High energy lasers are now routinely used for vaporizing superficial skin lesions and, to make deep cuts. For a laser to be suitable for use as a surgical laser, it must provide laser energy at a power sufficient to heart tissue to temperatures over 50° C. Power outputs for surgical lasers vary from 1-5 W for vaporizing superficial tissue, to about 100 W for deep cutting.
In contrast, low level laser therapy involves therapeutic administration of laser energy to a patient at vastly lower power outputs than those used in high energy laser applications, resulting in desirable biostimulatory effects while leaving tissue undamaged. For example, in rat models of myocardial infarction and ischemia-reperfusion injury, low energy laser irradiation reduces infarct size and left ventricular dilation, and enhances angiogenesis in the myocardium. (Yaakobi et al., J. Appl. Physiol. 90, 2411-19 (2001)). Low level laser therapy has been described for treating pain, including headache and muscle pain, and inflammation.